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As the 12th Combat Aviation Brigade’s 15-month rotation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom winds down, logistical maintainers under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command are making sure the brigade’s equipment is being maintained to the highest standards of readiness.
“Our primary aviation support that we provide to the 12th CAB is through the Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance – Europe,” said Sandy Sanders, chief of the Aviation Logistics Branch, 21st TSC.
TASM-E, which is assigned to the Aviation and Missile Command, falls under the operational control of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade and under further control of the 21st TSC. TASM-E has the mission to provide field, sustainment and limited depot-level aviation maintenance to both aircraft and aviation ground support equipment.
“When a unit like the 12th CAB deploys, TASM-E does reset and preset on their equipment and aircraft to get them back into the fight,” said Ms. Sanders.
During the deployment phase, TASM-E reconfigures the aircraft for shipment, removing some components for stowing. TASM-E will load the helicopters and equipment onto strategic aircraft and vessels and they will conduct any necessary maintenance as needed. And the reverse is true when the unit redeploys.
In preparation for the redeployment of 12th CAB, TASM-E has recently added an additional 161 contractors to their roster. Every aircraft maintenance contractor assigned to TASM-E is required to have an Airframe and Power Plant license and at least five years experience, said Lt. Col. Kye Allen, the TASM-E commander.
TASM-E assumed the major mission of theater aviation maintenance when the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Aviation Regiment inactivated about two years ago. TASM-E is comprised of a combination of Soldiers, Department of the Army civilians,contractors and local national civilian contractors, said Colonel Allen.
“Some of these (contractors) have 20 to 30 years of experience so that’s a huge plus,” Colonel Allen added.With more than 16,000 pieces of equipment being brought back into Europe as the 12th CAB redeploys, the experience the contractors bring with them will surely pay high dividends for TASM-E and the 12th CAB. An item as simple as an M-9 bayonet to a much more complex piece of equipment, such as the CH-47D Chinook heli-copter, will be reset to the highest of Army
standards, making these items fully mission capable and ready to return to the fight.
Another support mission provided to the 12th CAB while the unit is deployed is the
maintenance of the unit’s left behind equipment, or LBE. TASM-E is charged with inspecting and maintaining the unit’s LBE, which primarily consists of ground equipment such as vehicles, generators and trailers.
“Based on the mission set the deploying unit receives and their mission analysis, a percentage of their equipment will not deploy,” said Lt. Col. Lance Burton, chief of the Material Readiness Branch, 21st TSC. “We take that equipment and maintain it for them.”
TASM-E conducts preventative maintenance on the LBE to ensure the equipment remains fully mission capable, said Ms. Sanders.
“Vehicles I’ve worked on are at varying degrees of readiness,” said Stephen Cassidy, a TASM-E contracted mechanic. “A lot of (the vehicles) are not to standard when they are brought in for inspection and service. Sometimes we find 20 pages worth of gigs, but it’s up to us to fix all these issues. It’s up to us to make sure every piece of equipment leaves here fully ready and fully mission capable.”
Currently, the 21st TSC is operating under what Colonel Burton terms legacy LBE, which is primarily vehicles only. But he stressed the fact that the 21st TSC is moving toward a more complex LBE, where the 21st TSC would be taking complete control of equipment accountability from the deploying unit or units.
In addition, most of the equipment would be physically moved to Kaiserslautern to the Theater Logistics Support Center – Europe for service, which is in line with the Army’s Force Generation Model.
